So (if anyone cares to know), I decided to enter the Pimp your Blog competition (despite my better judgement as I'm leaving tomorrow to go work at a summer camp until August third, and don't really know just how much time I'll have to use the internet each day for updates and such).

But, why radio for my blog design for the Pimp Your Blog competition? I could have gone with numerous band-themed designs (U2, lady danville, Barenaked Ladies, Death Cab for Cutie, etc.) but once again, I seem to have stumbled off the map of wherever I was and into who knows where.

Radio's always been in this weird little part of my life. While every other kid in my age was off watching TV, I was listening to the radio. I love how really good DJs can make it sound like they're talking to you and only you, which is a wondrous thing at two or three in the morning when you're working on some project and desperately need some company but no one else is awake. And, in the time before social networking sites where every band and the singer's mother had their own profile page, radio kind of was the way (at least for me) to get updates on new music and upcoming artists.

I'm really lucky to have lived in Portland all my life, because there are some great stations around (not to mention some of the phenomenal bands that have came out of the Northwest), and KINK, the station that I grew up listening to had some awesome DJs working there, including one, Les Sarnoff, who pretty much is the reason I ever got interested in being a DJ in the first place. Almost everyday when I got ready for school, I would listen to his morning show. Unfortunately, he passed away from cancer this past spring, which is extremely unfortunate, as I never got to meet him and say thank you for inspiring me.

All of this sort of balled up into one big mess which eventually tumbled to college with me last fall, where lo and behold, they had a FM broadcasting class that I took so I could become a DJ at the college station, KEOL. I don't have a snazzy DJ name like some people I know do, I just go by Maddison, and my show's name isn't that great either (it's "The Random Eclectic". Our station manager Brian thought that up at the last second), but working at KEOL is still like the coolest job in the world. So much music in one place. Sometimes people call in and sometimes they don't, but taking requests and playing what the listeners want to hear instead of my eclectic mix of music is great. And the other DJs are such a great, off-the-wall group. It's wonderful!

Hence, the radio theme.